Turners Falls High School used efficient offense and a strong pitching performance from Tyler Charboneau to beat Mahar Regional School, 7-3, in independent action Friday afternoon in Turners Falls.

Charboneau went the distance, striking out four to secure the victory for the Indians (3-2). He helped his own cause with bat and with his legs as well, collecting two hits, two stolen bases, and knocked in two runs. Brody Markol added 3 hits and an RBI for Turners. Zach Demars had the Indians only extra-base hit on the day, a double.

Turners chased Senators’ starting pitcher Jake Paul after just an inning and a third, and had a 5-0 lead going into the sixth before Mahar put up two in the top of the frame. The Indians answered right back with a run in the bottom of the inning, and Mahar (2-4) tried to rally in the top of the seventh, but could only manage to plate one run before they were retired.

Logan Barrett and Brendin Woodard both doubled for the Senators, with Barrett, Ryan Arsenault, and Cody Marshall each collecting an RBI for Mahar.

“ We played a pretty solid game, especially on defense,” said Indians head coach Jay Liimatainen. “We turned a couple of really big double plays that helped to kill their rallies.”

Turners plays next Wednesday afternoon at 4 when it travels to Smith Academy in Hatfield.

Greenfield 8, Smith Academy 2 — Greenfield High School used a ten hit attack and solid pitching to record its third straight victory Friday afternoon, as it beat Smith Academy, 8-2, in an independent contest at Veterans Memorial Field in Greenfield.

Junior Connor Zabko got his first career varsity start and pitched pretty well, going three and two-thirds innings, but fell short of the four innings needed to record the win. The victory was credited to Drew Barisano, who not only pitched well in his three and a third inning stint, but also had a nice day at the plate.

“Zabko did OK work in the start, and we will be working with him to build on that as the season goes on. Barisano was the difference today though, he did a great job in relief, and had three big RBI on top of it,” said Greenfield head coach Tom Suchanek.

Barisano had two hits, one of them a double, to go along with the three RBI. Jordan York-Welcome had a three hit day for the Green Wave, and Garrett Hudson and Luke Toritto each knocked in a run for the Wave.

Greenfield (3-2) looks to win its fourth in a row Monday afternoon when it hosts Hopkins Academy at 3:30.

Frontier 5, Athol 0 — With many young players filling out its roster, Frontier Regional School is relying on veterans like Ben Ruddock to lead the way this season. On Friday, he did just that.

The senior pitched a gem and helped himself out with a timely, two-run double and the Red Hawks shutout Athol High School, 5-0, in a HL game at Valiton Field in South Deerfield.

Ruddock dominated the Athol hitters, allowing just four hits over seven innings of work in which he did not walk a batter but did strikeout 11.

“It was a funny day because there was a lot of life on his fastball but it seemed like he was struggling to hit his spots,” Frontier coach Chuck Holt said. “He was not happy with the way he was throwing, but he kept working out of it and as the game went on he got stronger. It’s the sign of an excellent pitcher when you feel like you don’t have your best stuff and you still end up with 11 strikeouts, no walks and just four hits against you.”

While Ruddock was stymying the Athol offense, the Red Hawks hitters did just enough to get to Athol starter Brad Bousquet. Niko Ames hit a leadoff triple in the bottom of the first inning and scored on a Sean Doyle fielders choice for a 1-0 lead. Frontier (2-3) then added four runs in the third and it all came with two outs. Brandon Bryant hit an infield single with Niko Ames on second base and Ames managed to come all the way around and score on the play for the second run of the game. Ruddock followed that up by unloading on a pitch and sending it to deep centerfield for a two-run double. Matt Ackerman then singled Ruddock home to make it 5-0. Holt said he is seeing signs that the offense is rounding into form.

“I don’t think we’re as offensively challenged as the scores of our first five games might indicate,” he explained. “We’re getting some guys back that were hurt, and some young guys are getting their timing down.”

Brad Bousquet struck out two and walked three in three innings for the loss, and also finished with two hits. Jerry Parker struck out five in three innings of scoreless balls.

Hopkins 5, Pioneer 0 — Hopkins Academy only managed to collect three hits, but took advantage of six Pioneer Valley Regional School errors to take an independent boys baseball tilt, 5-0, Friday afternoon in Hadley.

Andrew Omer was the winning pitcher for the Golden Hawks (5-1), going five innings, Striking out 11, and walking just three.

“We hit pretty well against a good pitcher, but we had way too many runners left on base. The two main reasons that we are now 1-6 on the season are bad base running and our left on base numbers. We’re a very young team, and I expect that we will get better as the season progresses and get our share of wins,” reflected Pioneer head coach Dan Abrahamson.

Hopkins jumped out early with two runs in the first and two more in the third, largely because of defensive lapses.

“Six errors are never a good thing,” said Abrahamson. “And you can’t win if you don’t score, anyway.”

John Jacques, John Morrison, and Brett Morrison collected the hits for Hopkins. Brett Morrison had the game’s only RBI.

Pioneer returns to action Monday, hosting Granby High School at 4 p.m. Smith Academy visits Greenfield High school Monday afternoon at 3:30.

Granby 4, FC Tech 0 — Brett Sullivan narrowly missed throwing a no-hitter but settled for a one-hit shutout as Granby High School defeated Franklin County Technical School, 4-0, in an independent baseball game Friday afternoon in Turners Falls.

Sullivan struck out nine and walked just one batter in the complete-game effort. The only hit against him came in the sixth inning when Ethan Wickline blooped a single to short right-center field.

Kyle Johnson pitched well in the loss, allowing just four hits and three walks over seven innings. Johnson struck out six but was hurt by the Eagles’ defense, which committed five errors on the day. Max Humphrey finished with two hits on the day, Sullivan added one hit and stole two bases, and Dan Menard singled and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.